Canada Re-Criminalizes Public Drug Use in British Columbia
A province that was a global pioneer in harm reduction took a step back after a political backlash.
By Ian Austen
While I cover people and events broadly throughout Canada, my base in the country’s capital means that I often focus on politics at both the federal and provincial level. I’m particularly interested in Indigenous stories as well as stories about overlooked issues or Canadian communities. I am the principal author of The Times’s weekly Canada newsletter.
I began writing about technology for The Times in the late 1990s, particularly the dramatic rise and the equally profound fall of the company that eventually became known as BlackBerry. I began covering Canada more generally in 2003. I also reported extensively on professional cycling and the Tour de France. Much of my career before The Times was spent writing for magazines, particularly Maclean’s. I also worked for Southam News and was a contributor, mainly about technology, to CBC Radio.
I grew up in Windsor, Ontario, and attended journalism school at what is now known as Toronto Metropolitan University.
Like all Times journalists I uphold standards found in our Ethical Journalism Handbook. For me its overriding message is one of maintaining independence and fairness. Because I occasionally write about corporations I do not directly own shares. I do not donate money to political groups, political parties or electoral candidates. Nor do I attend any events of a political nature except for reporting. I have an immediate family member who works in a senior communications position at a major Canadian corporation. So I do not write about that company or cover issues that primarily affect its interests.
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A province that was a global pioneer in harm reduction took a step back after a political backlash.
By Ian Austen
The police said that they did not know whether the shooting was related to the recent exchange of increasingly personal diss tracks traded between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
By Joe Coscarelli
The measure from a member of the Bloc Québécois would ban changes to the supply management system for dairy, poultry and eggs.
By Ian Austen
The stolen gold was partly used to buy guns that were bound for Canada, the police said.
By Ian Austen
Andrew Furey, Canada’s only Liberal premier, recently asked the Liberal federal government to suspend the scheduled increases.
By Ian Austen
This was featured in live coverage.
By Ian Austen and Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin
What people in the path of totality were seeing and saying as the eclipse unfolded across the continent.
By The New York Times
This was featured in live coverage.
By Michael Roston and Ben Shpigel
Across parts of the United States, Mexico and Canada, would-be eclipse-gazers are on the move for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime event.
By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
Breaking with Canadian tradition, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been crisscrossing the country announcing measures from the April 16 budget in advance.
By Ian Austen
The bloated cost of the ArriveCAN app and new investigations into possible fraud have highlighted some problems with turning to outside companies.
By Ian Austen
The House of Commons vote endorsing a package of conflict-ending measures came after language calling on Canada to immediately recognize a State of Palestine was removed.
By Ian Austen
The main lender for SaltWire, which owns most of the region’s legacy newspapers outside New Brunswick, has moved to dissolve the publisher.
By Ian Austen
This was featured in live coverage.
By Ian Austen
A group wants the federal government to mirror its blanket restrictions on tobacco ads, citing addiction and its effect on sports.
By Ian Austen
Michael Spavor, a Canadian businessman, was arrested by China in what his lawyers said was an act of retaliation for Canada’s detention of a Chinese tech giant executive.
By Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai
The police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the killings on Wednesday of a Sri Lankan family, the city’s largest mass murder in at least 30 years.
By Ian Austen, Vjosa Isai and Isabel Harder
A government forecast suggests that there could be even more wildfires this season than during last year’s exceptional fire period.
By Ian Austen
The former prime minister, who died this week, brought dramatic changes, good and bad, to the country’s economy with the pact.
By Ian Austen
He signed the historic free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico but was shadowed by scandal.
By Alan Cowell
After a prolonged parliamentary debate, details about two microbiology researchers who were found to have shared secrets with China have been released.
By Ian Austen
An economic analysis found that in several Canadian cities, prices would have to plummet, or incomes would have to soar improbably, to restore affordability.
By Ian Austen
Members of the Afzaal family were run down by a young man who harbored white supremacist beliefs and who targeted them because they were Muslim.
By Ian Austen
While no new stadiums will be built in Vancouver or Toronto, multimillion-dollar renovations must be finished on a tight deadline.
By Ian Austen
Cameron Ortis was convicted of passing state secrets to men under police investigation, but his motives remain unknown. He said it was all part of an international mission he could not disclose.
By Ian Austen
Hockey fans in Canada are struggling to make sense of a scandal that has led to sexual-assault charges against five former junior hockey players.
By Vjosa Isai and Ian Austen
The first week of hearings by a special commission focused on the question of how top-secret intelligence can be made public.
By Ian Austen
A parliamentary panel concluded that there are not enough doctors, particularly psychiatrists, in the country to properly assess patients.
By Ian Austen
The accusation, made in London, Ontario, in 2018, has put the country’s hockey organization into turmoil and outraged the public.
By Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai
A study led by researchers in Toronto found that crime had risen in several cities along with increases in spending.
By Ian Austen
The government said it will appeal the decision that came two years after the start of a trucker protest that paralyzed the downtown of Canada’s capital.
By Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai
Ontario announced plans this week to further expand services offered through privately owned clinics under its health plan.
By Ian Austen
The Biden administration and the Israeli government diverge sharply over how Gaza should be governed when the war ends.
By Aaron Boxerman
A study finds that logging has inflicted severe damage to the vast boreal forests in Ontario and Quebec, two of the country’s main commercial logging regions.
By Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai
I’m a New York Times correspondent based in Ottawa. Here are five things I’ve been watching, reading and listening to.
By Ian Austen
We asked Canada Letter readers to tell us about the restaurants that have become institutions in their communities.
By Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai
The mechanically powered holiday scenes that once filled department-store windows in Canada are still humming. Here’s where to find them.
By Ian Austen
Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, and Scott Moe of Saskatchewan made their way to the U.N. climate summit.
By Ian Austen
The men created extremist manifestoes and recruiting videos, officials say.
By Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai
To avoid a seemingly endless process, the government takes some political heat.
By Ian Austen
A Manhattan indictment says the agent orchestrated an unsuccessful plot against a Sikh separatist, a plan linked to a killing in Canada.
By Jesse McKinley, Julian E. Barnes and Ian Austen
Dan Carter, the mayor of Oshawa, Ontario, was a homeless addict from his teens until he was 31. Now he’s helping people who face those issues in his adopted city.
By Ian Austen
Dan Carter was on the streets for 17 years. His experience informs his policy agenda as mayor of Oshawa, Ontario, a city of 175,000 struggling with overdoses and affordability.
By Ian Austen
A jury convicted Cameron Ortis, who defended himself by arguing that he was engaged in a secret mission when he sought to sell secrets.
By Ian Austen
A speeding car hit a median, took flight, then burst into flames. Bridges closed down and trains stopped running as authorities raced to investigate.
By Hurubie Meko, Paul Lane and Ashley Southall
Irate investors looking for a bankrupt “crypto king” were regular visitors to the new Toronto-area home of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
By Ian Austen
The economy, and particularly inflation, has soured voters on both leaders, polls indicate, though well in advance of upcoming votes.
By Ian Austen
A series of events marking the centennial of the artist’s birth includes a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada.
By Ian Austen
A report from an inquiry into possible war criminals in Canada has been kept from the public for almost 40 years.
By Ian Austen
A lawsuit offers a glimpse into the victim’s view of the April heist, though the case remains unsolved.
By Ian Austen
The diplomats and 42 family members left amid growing tension over Canada’s assertion that India was complicit in the killing of a Sikh leader in British Columbia.
By Ian Austen
Saskatchewan’s premier has preemptively invoked the province’s power to ignore the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a gender identity bill.
By Ian Austen
Harjit Sajjan, the emergency preparedness minister, has faced threats of violence from other members of India’s large diaspora in Canada.
By Ian Austen
Wab Kinew, an Anishinaabe politician who leads the New Democratic Party, will replace the conservative Heather Stefanson as Manitoba’s leader.
By Ian Austen
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said that his country is in talks with India to avert the expulsions.
By Ian Austen
The 98-year-old Ukrainian was introduced as a “hero” at a speech by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons has resigned.
By Ian Austen
Anthony Rota, the speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, introduced a 98-year-old veteran of an SS unit as a “hero” in front of Ukraine’s president.
By Ian Austen
American intelligence gave assistance, but communications intercepted by Canada were more definitive in linking India to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
By Julian E. Barnes and Ian Austen
Three witnesses who said they saw the killers of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Sikh leader at the center of a diplomatic dispute between Canada and India, described the scene.
By Norimitsu Onishi and Ian Austen
During a visit to The New York Times, the prime minister shared thoughts on his explosive allegation against India as well as general anxiety by the public.
By Ian Austen